About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Post for Washington State Legislative Committee on Transportation

(I sent an email to all the committee
members referring them to this blog)

This post is an attempt to urge the
Washington Legislatures Joint Committee on Transportation to take a more active
role, either directly or through its oversight of the WSDOT, in monitoring
Sound Transits activities.It’s
the latest of the 89 posts I’ve included on this blog during the last nine
months concerning problems with Sound Transit policies in general and their
East Link light rail program in particular.

Any competent analysis would have quickly
concluded Bus Rapid Transit (BRT, two-way bus-only lanes on center roadway) was a far better choice than light rail for
cross-lake mass transit than light rail (See 8/08/12 Post).Sound Transit could have initiated BRT some 15 years ago, alleviating
congestion for cross-lake commuters and saved the hundreds of millions spent on
light rail.Instead ST failed to
even consider BRT on the I-90 center roadway as the “no-build” option in the
2008 DEIS.

Since the DEIS publication I’ve spent
the last four years attempting to expose this truly historic blunder.This includes emails to the Sound
Transit Board, Bellevue City Council, WSDOT, Seattle Times, Bellevue Reporter,
eastside legislators, local radio personalities, and others.I’ve also made many presentations
during the Bellevue City Council “public comment” sessions.All have been essentially ignored.

My goal in last year’s campaign for
48th District Representative was to use the “Voters’ Pamphlet” to attract attention to this blog.Unfortunately, that effort was “hampered” by the Secretary of State’s
failure to include the blog address in the general election pamphlet.I have since continued with the blog as
my way of making a “difference” and knowing in the end I will be “vindicated”.

The Bellevue City Council has been
“less than helpful”.They’ve

apparently reached an agreement with
Sound Transit to approve permits
needed for construction.The
3/06/13 post explains the devastating effect this agreement will have on those
living along the route; the added cost to all of Bellevue for the BCC
inexplicable decision to pay $200 million for a tunnel when eastside residents
have already paid far more than their fair share of ST revenues; and the
inevitable gridlock on the I-90 Bridge from East Link confiscation of the
bridge center roadway.Cross-lake
light rail will be a disaster for the entire eastside.

More recent analysis of Sound Transit
policies has led to the conclusion their problems go far beyond East
Link. The whole light rail concept
was based on the premise that the capital costs associated with creating a light
rail system would be offset by lower operating costs for the trains.Yet ST light rail trains cost $797.58
per revenue hour, 4 times the $194.52 (per ST 2013 Budget) revenue hour costs
for buses.

Central Link trains have higher
capacity with about 150 riders sitting or standing in each car.Comparable numbers for conventional
buses are 60-70 riders and 80-90 riders for articulated buses. Thus it would take 4 buses to match the
capacity of a 2-car light rail train and the operating costs would be
comparable.However, anything less
than peak capacity would allow fewer buses and lower operating costs. It makes no sense to operate 2 or even 1-car light rail trains for 20 hours a day. Replacing trains with buses after 7:00 or 8:00 PM and maybe during mid-day would substantially reduce operating costs. Reducing the number of train trips would also probably result in less depreciation and further savings.

As the 3/09/13 post explains Sound
Transit plans to extend Central Link to Federal Way is truly idiotic. The Central Link extension to Northgate can potentially be justified by the anticipated increased ridership. However, the decision to tunnel makes it less financially viable because of the resultant increased costs and reduced access from fewer stations. Light rail's high operating costs make any further extension even less viable.

Central Link
ridership could be increased if the University light rail station was designed
to serve as the terminus for 520 BRT service (see 7/29/12 post).If needed, the number of cars in each
train could be doubled for additional capacity greatly improving light rail
economics.(A typical Paris subway
train has 10 cars).Cross-lake
commuters from both sides of the lake would benefit and Seattle congestion would
be reduced because of fewer buses.

In conclusion, the Sound Transit
Board, the WSDOT and the media have all ignored my many attempts to raise these
issues.Hopefully the members of
the legislatures joint transportation committee will recognize that allowing Sound Transit to continue with its current plans will devastate the east side and burden the entire area with the costs of operating a fatally flawed light rail system.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.